The order of the Sugar Regulatory Administration allowing the importation of 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar has been described by sugar planters in Negros as “appalling” and “very ill-timed” as the shipments are projected to arrive at the peak of the milling season.
The SRA justified the importation by citing the shortfall in local sugar output due to the devastation caused by Super typhoon Odette, especially on sugar producing areas, along with the need to control market prices that have surged to record highs.
“As the economy is once again starting to open up, the demand for raw sugar and refined sugar for January this year have also increased when compared to the same month in the three previous years,” SRA Administrator Hermengildo Serafica said as he justified the import order.
While industry projections do indicate a shortfall of sugar due to low production, especially in Negros that accounts for more than half of the country’s total output, the volume and timing of the SRA order is highly suspect as it will not benefit farmers but large-scale industrial users of the commodity such as manufacturers of beverages, biscuits, breads, candies and confectionaries.
The sugar industry is already facing rising costs of production, with the cost of fertilizers tripling and fuel having breached the P50 level. Instead of helping the industry cope by lowering costs of production, the SRA solution of massive importation during the peak of the milling season is a dead giveaway of where its priorities lie.
The sugar industry has for months been calling on the Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry for help in controlling the skyrocketing costs of production. Unable to get even empty assurances in the form of sweet nothings from these government agencies, they never expected the SRA that they wrongly assumed would stand behind them during these difficult times to add to their woes.
With the government agencies that are supposed to protect its interests seemingly uninterested in the difficulties currently being encountered by the sugar industry that now run the gamut, from skyrocketing costs of production to the threat of excessive importation, is there anyone in government who can look after the interests of the industry that remains the lifeblood of this island?*
